Stephen Decatur Hatch

Stephen Decatur Hatch (1839–1894)^[2] was a prominent late-19th century architect who was responsible for a number of historically or architecturally significant buildings in Manhattan, New York City and elsewhere. He primarily designed commercial buildings.^[3]

Part of Hatch's "extraordinary"^[1] 3-story mansard roof for Gilsey House

Jubilee Hall at Fisk University

Murray Hill Hotel, built 1884, razed 1947 (c.1900-1910)

The former New York Life Insurance Company Building

Early life, family and education

Stephen Hatch was born in Swanton, Vermont.^[4] His father was an inventor.^[3]

Career

Hatch relocated to New York City, finding employment as a construction inspector.^[3] He joined the busy architectural firm of John B. Snook in 1860 as a draftsman.^[4]

Hatch left the Snook firm around 1864 to start his own practice. He became the architect of the U.S. War Department, responsible for construction of military posts in New York.^[3] His practice began to flourish in 1868.^[4]

Personal life and demise

Hatch died in 1894, during the construction of an extension to the headquarters building of the New York Life Insurance Company.

Works

Manhattan

• 213-215 Water Street – warehouse, built 1868 for A.A. Thompson & Co., now part of South Street Seaport Museum,^[5] within the South Street Seaport Historic District
• 118 East 18th Street – built 1868^[6]
• Gilsey House Hotel – 1200 Broadway, built 1869–1871, converted to residential use 1980, a New York City landmark (1979)^[1]
• 836-838 Broadway – built 1876-1877^[7]
• Robbins & Appleton Building – manufacturing, built 1879–1880, a New York City landmark (1979)^[8]
• Schepp Building – warehouse, 45-53 Hudson Street, built 1880, within the Tribeca North Historic District^[9]
• 165 Duane Street – lofts, built 1881, within the Tribeca West Historic District^[10]
• Murray Hill Hotel – Park Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets, built 1884, razed 1947^[11]
• U.S. Army Building – also known as 3 New York Plaza, Water & Whitehall Streets, offices, built 1886^[12]
• 168 Duane Street – warehouse, built 1886–1887, within the Tribeca West Historic District,^[9] Dutch Revival style ^[13]
• Manhattan Savings Institution^[14] – also known as Bleecker Tower,^[15] 644 Broadway, built 1889–1891, within the NoHo Historic District ^[16]
• Fleming Smith Warehouse – 451-453 Washington Street, built 1891–1892, a New York City landmark (1978)^[17]
• Roosevelt Building – lofts, 839-841 Broadway, built 1893^[18]
• Former New York Life Insurance Company Building – also known as the Clock Tower Building, offices, 346 Broadway, built 1894–1895, completed by McKim, Mead & White, a New York City landmark (1987)^[19] and on the National Register of Historic Places (1982)
• United States Custom House (now the Federal Hall National Memorial) and the American Surety Building, both located in lower Manhattan.

Elsewhere

• Methodist Episcopal Church – Madison, New Jersey, built 1870, on the National Register of Historic Places (2008)
• Jubilee Hall – Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, built 1876, a National Historic Landmark (1974)
• Laclede Building – St. Louis, Missouri, built 1888^[20]
• Eisenhower Executive Office Building, Rooms 231 & 232 – Washington, D.C., office suite for the U.S. Secretary of War, completed March 1888^[2]
• Designed State Capitol building in Providence, Rhode Island.